MemberHi, my job is high paying, also, I have kids that need tuition, plus my own sense of well-being vs distress, etc. plus if I keep working longer I like my job and so this is good for me, also I do a good job and people like my work etc., so I have to throw everything at it. 5 weeks ago, I had dental crown work done, and my chronic tinnitus turned catastrophic, and I showed up in ER after 5 days with no sleep, and huge screaming crazy tinnitus, like tinnitus from hell. I told my colleague that I was probably going to have to resign my job and go on early retirement. If this was my dog I would be having it put to sleep.
I logged on to tinnitus talk, and also did my own thinking, also consult with ATA, and audiologist etc. Just by chance, I was talking to oncologist, who deals with chronic pain due to cancer spread to bones etc., and he mentioned the drug Lyrica. I also found out how to do CR NM from tinnitustalk, my daughter made me an MP3 with DIY CR NM.
I treat my ear injury just like a broken bone: do not put any weight on it - so I go around EVERYWHERE with a noise cancelling headset - the Bose 15. This means that my ears get constant sound, but just at a much lower level, and if a Harley Davidson goes by, then there is no problem. In my case it is so bad, that if just one Harley goes by for a few seconds, my tinnitus gets ultra severe, same as a truck back-fire, etc., so I have to "baby" my hearing. Do not believe what they tell you that 80dB is fine for your hearing - the ear was developed in a time BEFORE machine age, at a time that your hearing had to be super acute to prevent you from being eaten by another animal, etc., and there were no huge sounds 10,000 years ago - only the past few hundred years with Industrial Age, etc., which the ear cannot deal with. In the day time, I work in a fairly quiet office, and I keep a white noise machine going, plus the NM MP3. If I go out of the office, I wear the Bose. Some parts of the lab are noisy with huge ventillation sounds or compressors running or centrifuge, or door slams etc. - the Bose takes care of this perfectly. Outdoors in the shopping centre, or in my car, I wear the Bose. My opinion is that it is better to do something than do nothing. I know many tinnitus patients use hearing aids, but in my opinion, a hearing aid amplifies sounds, and that is the complete opposite to what is necessary. My Lyrica medication puts me out to sleep pretty reliably, and if I get up too early I take slightly more med, to get an abnormally long sleep, and I find after extra sleep the tinnitus gets quieter - but is very "tender" in that just a slight abnormal noise "wakes it up". This is a very gradual process, where the results are not dramatic, and not overnight. At the beginning of this my hyperacusis was so bad that my own voice would make the ringing worse. But however after 5 weeks, I am a whole lot better - I have gone from where is my nembutal to please bring on more work, and looking forward to a long and productive career. Some of what I do is what is recommended - like TRT and NM and white noise, and constant sound, but other parts are not found anywhere on internet, but they seem logical to me, like wearing a Bose everywhere. I do this because I cannot risk being exposed to an accidental Harley noise or truck back-fire. I have white noise in my bedroom, AND pink noise (restful rain available on internet), AND a pillow speaker x 2. I am extremely determined individual, and I take things to the extreme, but the person I work with also says to wear the Bose everywhere, and your own health is at stake, then your health takes priority, and no one really cares if you have headset on or not (they get curious about it, but they just think you are some "cool" guy listening to your music) - with the Bose, there is an attached MP3 player, and it is constantly playing either Restful Rain, or "notched" white noise. My tinnitus has gone from 10+ to 6.5+, and my requirement for meds has slightly diminished. I can also compare the tinnitus to the level of my bedroom speakers and my MP3 volume control level, and my own subjective interpretation. Please make sure that if you do what I do, you will run the risk of getting hyperacusis really badly, and you MUST have some normal sound to keep your hearing in balance. But your brain does not like making this noise, and if you apply the correct "splint" or "bandage" to it, it will do what it can to "heal" itself, which it will do due to "plasticity" of neurons.
They say that you should not be obsessed by it the way that I am obsessed, and that you should just regard it as a "harmless sound" - but to me the sound is clearly NOT harmless - it made me show up in ER, it was making me think about ending it all etc., so I don't buy into that part about "don't worry about it, it won't cause you any harm, etc."
That is my theory anyway, obviously I am getting better so something is being done right. have a nice day.
I logged on to tinnitus talk, and also did my own thinking, also consult with ATA, and audiologist etc. Just by chance, I was talking to oncologist, who deals with chronic pain due to cancer spread to bones etc., and he mentioned the drug Lyrica. I also found out how to do CR NM from tinnitustalk, my daughter made me an MP3 with DIY CR NM.
I treat my ear injury just like a broken bone: do not put any weight on it - so I go around EVERYWHERE with a noise cancelling headset - the Bose 15. This means that my ears get constant sound, but just at a much lower level, and if a Harley Davidson goes by, then there is no problem. In my case it is so bad, that if just one Harley goes by for a few seconds, my tinnitus gets ultra severe, same as a truck back-fire, etc., so I have to "baby" my hearing. Do not believe what they tell you that 80dB is fine for your hearing - the ear was developed in a time BEFORE machine age, at a time that your hearing had to be super acute to prevent you from being eaten by another animal, etc., and there were no huge sounds 10,000 years ago - only the past few hundred years with Industrial Age, etc., which the ear cannot deal with. In the day time, I work in a fairly quiet office, and I keep a white noise machine going, plus the NM MP3. If I go out of the office, I wear the Bose. Some parts of the lab are noisy with huge ventillation sounds or compressors running or centrifuge, or door slams etc. - the Bose takes care of this perfectly. Outdoors in the shopping centre, or in my car, I wear the Bose. My opinion is that it is better to do something than do nothing. I know many tinnitus patients use hearing aids, but in my opinion, a hearing aid amplifies sounds, and that is the complete opposite to what is necessary. My Lyrica medication puts me out to sleep pretty reliably, and if I get up too early I take slightly more med, to get an abnormally long sleep, and I find after extra sleep the tinnitus gets quieter - but is very "tender" in that just a slight abnormal noise "wakes it up". This is a very gradual process, where the results are not dramatic, and not overnight. At the beginning of this my hyperacusis was so bad that my own voice would make the ringing worse. But however after 5 weeks, I am a whole lot better - I have gone from where is my nembutal to please bring on more work, and looking forward to a long and productive career. Some of what I do is what is recommended - like TRT and NM and white noise, and constant sound, but other parts are not found anywhere on internet, but they seem logical to me, like wearing a Bose everywhere. I do this because I cannot risk being exposed to an accidental Harley noise or truck back-fire. I have white noise in my bedroom, AND pink noise (restful rain available on internet), AND a pillow speaker x 2. I am extremely determined individual, and I take things to the extreme, but the person I work with also says to wear the Bose everywhere, and your own health is at stake, then your health takes priority, and no one really cares if you have headset on or not (they get curious about it, but they just think you are some "cool" guy listening to your music) - with the Bose, there is an attached MP3 player, and it is constantly playing either Restful Rain, or "notched" white noise. My tinnitus has gone from 10+ to 6.5+, and my requirement for meds has slightly diminished. I can also compare the tinnitus to the level of my bedroom speakers and my MP3 volume control level, and my own subjective interpretation. Please make sure that if you do what I do, you will run the risk of getting hyperacusis really badly, and you MUST have some normal sound to keep your hearing in balance. But your brain does not like making this noise, and if you apply the correct "splint" or "bandage" to it, it will do what it can to "heal" itself, which it will do due to "plasticity" of neurons.
They say that you should not be obsessed by it the way that I am obsessed, and that you should just regard it as a "harmless sound" - but to me the sound is clearly NOT harmless - it made me show up in ER, it was making me think about ending it all etc., so I don't buy into that part about "don't worry about it, it won't cause you any harm, etc."
That is my theory anyway, obviously I am getting better so something is being done right. have a nice day.
Manager
